Clerget 16X
# Clerget 16X

The Clerget 16X was an experimental French 16-cylinder X engine built in about 1918.

## Design

Clerget are best known for their well engineered rotary engines produced from 1911 to the end of World War I in 1918, the first of their type to deliver fuel-air mixture to the cylinder heads by external induction tubes via externally push rod operated inlet valves. They later made a series of static radial aircraft diesel engines. The experimental 16X was a departure from all of these; despite contemporary descriptions as a radial engine, it was in more modern terms an X-type, four stroke water-cooled petrol engine, essentially two 90° V-8 cylinder engines, one inverted, coupled to a common output shaft.

## Specifications

Data from Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War I

### General characteristics

* Type: 16-cylinder X-type piston engine, with four 4-cylinder banks separated by 90°. Single sparking plug on the upper side of each cylinder.
* Bore: 130 mm (5.1 in)
* Stroke: 130 mm (5.1 in)
* Displacement: 27.6 L (1,684.26 cu in)
* Length: 1,306 mm (51.42 in)
* Diameter: 512 mm (20.16 in)
* Dry weight: 340.2 kg (750 lb)

### Components

* Valvetrain: Two overhead valves per cylinder, each operated via a long push-rod worked by one camshaft per cylinder bank. Side inlet and exhaust ports.
* Fuel system: Separate carburettors mounted between upper and between lower cylinder bank, each feeding their pairs of banks. Single sparking plug in upper side of each cylinder.
* Fuel type: Petrol
* Cooling system: Water, centrifugally pumped.

### Performance

* Power output: 313 kW (419.74 hp) at 1,600 rpm
* Compression ratio: 5:1
* Specific fuel consumption: 0.48 L/kWh (0.079 imp gal/hph; 0.095 US gal/hph)
* Oil consumption: 0.038 L/kWh (0.0063 imp gal/hph; 0.0076 US gal/hph))
